We’re talking indoor planting again.

Office Fern

It seems every week there are articles about the benefits of indoor planting. This means an increasing number of businesses will be looking for qualified interiorscapers to design an interior landscape for their business that is beautiful, cost efficient, and employee friendly.

Indoor planting can benefit those spending lots of time indoors. Hopefully winter is nearly over and people will be able to get outside more. Some businesses will be looking to bring a bit of the outdoors in. I’m picturing the cafes and the restaurants that like plants and flowers to brighten up the appearance. These restaurants can be an indoor-outdoor setting with great plants setup outside and inside as well. It makes for a charming setting along with providing benefit to the customers and employees.

We know indoor planting and interiorscaping is beneficial for businesses. The trick is learning how to describe those benefits to building managers so they get excited about interiorscaping.

Improved Air Quality in Winter and Summer

Plants add oxygen to an indoor environment. An article I came across this week discussed some of the air scrubbing benefits of indoor plants for home and office.

Poor Winter Air Quality Helped by Indoor Plants in the Home and Office

The Environmental Protection Agency recently noted that “In the last several years, a growing body of scientific evidence has indicated that the air within homes and other buildings can be more seriously polluted than the outdoor air—in even the largest and most industrialized cities.”

Professional Landcare Network (PLANET) offers homeowners tips for improving indoor air quality through the use of indoor plants. “All plants add oxygen and create a healthier indoor environment,” says Chris Raimondi, chairman of PLANET’s Interior Specialty Group. “In addition, some plants provide the added benefit of removing toxins from the air.”

These are two agencies dedicated to improving the lives of people. Plants are proving to be the lifeblood of living fresh and clean. Removing toxins form the air improves overall health of people in indoor spaces. The plants and people inside can also feed off each other as they swap each other’s fuel – carbon dioxide for fresh, clean oxygen.

That’s how mother nature intended things to work.

Reduced Carbon Dioxide

Carbon dioxide gets a bad rap sometimes. The truth is carbon dioxide is part of nature. Too much is not good for humans, but too little is not good for plants. Humans and plants need each other to exist in a healthy climate full of vibrant life.

Reducing carbon dioxide can be an issue in homes and offices.

Consider an article on the life balance of humans and plants – oxygen and carbon dioxide.

Plant life balance act to well being

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is released when there are large numbers of people in offices or from gas appliances (mainly in homes).

These pollutants are considered to be the main cause of sick building syndrome and even at very low levels have been shown to cause headaches, eye, nose and throat problems and loss of concentration.

The university research concludes you only need two to three suitable indoor plants to reduce VOCs by 80 per cent and CO2 by 10 to 25 per cent.

In one experiment, 55 office workers in separate rooms were asked to look after one, two or three indoor plants for three months. The plants in the experiment included the peace lily, Spathiphyllum petite and Dracaena Janet Craig.

Those with two or three plants in their office reported a 50 per cent reduction in stress, along with 60 per cent less sick leave and 35 per cent lower eye, nose and throat problems. Rooms without plants reported an increase in stress of 20 per cent and negativity of 40 per cent.

Normally I wouldn’t quote that much of an article, but the research had some great statistics you can use when discussing designs with your clients.

Vista Metallic Rectangle Planter

Just a few indoor plants can greatly improve the quality of life for office employees and visitor vendors and customers. It’s a small investment for building managers to create a healthy environment with indoor planting.

Interiorscapers like you can use these stats to discuss the benefits of indoor planting with your clients. You can discuss the benefits for businesses by going with an experienced interiorscaper versus them trying to do things on their own. You can provide the knowledge of beautiful indoor planting design with the cost saving benefits of having access to wholesale planters and wholesale pots.

Indoor Plants and Lighting

As a professional interior landscaper you also have the knowledge of what types of plants work well indoors and how to maintain those plants. These are all things worth spending money on from the perspective of a business owner or building manager.

Consider…

Soil and filter

“Boston ferns are excellent, but they do shed,” Speed said. “Dracaena, palms and spider plants are good. Snake plant and other sansevieria do well, even in low light. Schefflera and any ficus are good too.”

“Pothos, arrowhead vine, rubber plant and peace lily – we always have these,” Denison said. “They’re the more popular plants.”

At the office, Faulds recommends hardy types: pothos, philodendron, bamboo plants and dracaena. “They tolerate low light and are effective at removing chemicals.” They also don’t mind drying out.

Choose plants carefully. “Look for ones with new glossy tips,” Speed said. “Make sure they have a well-established root system, not just planted straight into peat moss. It dries out too much. Check for pests and disease.”

“Look for nice healthy leaves,” Denison said. “No yellow or brown leaves. You want a good root system. You can see if the plant is stressed. You don’t want roots coming out of the pot, top or bottom, indicating it’s root-bound.

There is much more in the article worth reading. It’s worth five minutes to read the entire piece for more great statistics on the benefits of indoor plants. It’s great material to take to your clients.

I included those for the list of indoor plants and how it varies by lighting needs. I’m sure you also have more knowledge of plants that not only improve the quality of air, but are easy to maintain while brightening up the look of an indoor space.

Even after you finish setting things up for your clients be sure to keep the information flowing. After the project is finished is an important time. Your client wants all the reason they can find to justify their investment. Give them the satisfaction of making a good decision by going with a pro interiorscaper.

This process after the project can also lead to some great referral business.

Summary

We’ve discussed the benefits of indoor plants the last couple weeks.

Taking information about the air balance plants can provide an office space is important for selling your clients on large interiorscaping projects. Even after the project is complete you’ll want to maintain a bit of communication so your client feels proud of their decision. They’ll feel good knowing they were responsible for improving the health and vitality of their employees, customers, and visitors.

Is there anything else to add to the discussion?

Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Office Fern image courtesy of HoskingIndustries

Have you ever watched TED videos?

Money Plant

The videos cover various topics including success, happiness, and even entertainment such as math-magic. Check them out sometime if you haven’t seen them before.

The other day I came across an article that highlighted a TED Video featuring Kamal Meattle a man that has become an expert on the influence of indoor plants on the human condition. Kamal gives a great four minute speech full of statistics of how indoor plants have helped businesses and buildings improve the quality of their air. These stats can be your ammunition when you head into a presentation with potential client.

Take four minutes and watch the video and also read the article How to Clean Air with Indoor Plants.

Cleaning Air with Indoor Plants

Kamal mentions great benefits of keeping the three plants he mentions – Areca Palm, Mother-in-Law’s Tongue, and Money Plant – inside buildings. Some of the benefits include higher blood oxygen levels, a reduction in the number of headaches, eye irritants, and lung impairments. Beyond those great health benefits is a shown increase in the productivity of the building’s occupants by 20% by including the plants mentioned in the video inside of buildings and keeping the plants maintained with appropriate care.

Also there was a finding that the building reduced its energy costs by 15%. That’s a huge number to the bottom line of business. This kind of information is relatively new and may or may not be known by building owners and managers. Telling a building manager they may be missing out on the opportunity to improve the health of their co-workers while increasing productivity and reducing energy costs is a huge value proposition for any interiorscaper.

Indoor Plant Pots and Planters

Lechuza Diamante Planter

The three plants mentioned in the video by Kamal are common and need basic planters or pots.

The Metallic Vista Floor Planter works great for plants of this size. They look nice indoors and go with most modern building interiors.

For a bolder statement for a floor plant you could go with something like the Lechuza Diamante planter. This planter is a real show stopper in an indoor setting. This is a statement piece in many indoor buildings and the building manager can be sure the plants are helping the employees and the business too.

More Indoor Plant Cleaning News

Even the Wall St. Journal has an article on the power of indoor plants.

Vista Metallic Floor Planter

This article highlights the fact that some indoor plants can reduce dust particles and contaminates in the air. I was actually quite shocked to read that in today’s world people can spend up to 90% of their life indoors. And with the growing concern for the quality of indoor air there seems to be need for natural ways to clean the air.

Enter the inexpensive indoor houseplant and office plant.

But people don’t just want indoor plants to keep them healthy (although that’s pretty good on its own) people want their indoor plants to look appealing. In houses and office buildings people want to be surrounded by things that look beautiful.

That’s where great interiorscapers like you come in.

Money Plant image courtesy of Ipshita B

Last week we looked at educating clients.

This week we’re looking at the marketing tools available in 2011 you can use to help your interior landscaping business. With all of the tools available – Websites, email, social media, etc. – one of the questions is finding the correct tools or tools to drive business. Let’s take a look at a few of the tools worth trying this year for driving revenue and profit…

Interiorscape Marketing in 2011

The idea for a post on marketing came from the Interiorscape Forum. A post asking about interiorscape marketing piqued my interest and got my attention.I thought the topic was worth discussing for a couple posts before we get back into design, planting and potting options, and other topics discussed on ProScape.

A few of the newer marketing methods mentioned in the post include blogging, Facebook, and LinkedIn. A few more traditional marketing methods are mentioned as well including joining your local Chamber of Commerce or Better Business Bureau and of course the best way to get new business – client referrals.

Traditional Marketing

Referrals are always going to be the best way to get new business. Obtaining new business is no different in 2011. Referrals are typically king. When working on designs for your clients be sure to ask them to mention you to their business associates. Mention to building owners that it would be great if they could suggest your business to other non-competing businesses in the area.

Your clients likely have been introduced to the idea of interior landscaping by the time they’re ready to ask for help on finding someone to design their building. The business owner will likely have been in a building with a great interiorscape or perhaps they have read about interiorscaping in a magazine or business blog. From there the owner will likely look to their trusted peers for assistance in finding a qualified person to get the design job done.

This is how most business is driven. It takes quality work and a good reputation to get referrals. Things usually don’t happen overnight in the referral world, but making it a point of your business today and with each client you should build your referral business over time.

Blogging

Blogging is perhaps my favorite marketing method to recommend to business especially businesses that provide services and products to other business. I’ve found businesses with businesses as clients fair best from writing quality blog content.

A few of the benefits blogs provide include:

• Search Traffic
• Industry Leadership and Trust
• Sales

Search engines love blogs. With a blog for your business you provide a consistent stream of fresh content – something search engines love. The search engines want to provide the best answers and content for their visitors questions. When businesses are looking for information on interiorscaping you’ll want to make sure your blog is at the top of the results for the questions they have.

By providing your knowledge and insight about interiorscaping with a blog you’ll establish yourself as a thought leader in the industry. Clients look for someone that stands out. An interiorscaper with a blog full of good advice ont he benefits of indoor planting will stand out as the go-to person for interiorscaping for business owners.

As with referrals, business owners generally have questions about interiorscaping. Something piqued their interest about the process, but they want to learn a bit about it before they just jump in. Your blog can be a source of answering their questions and once the business owner is comfortable with interiorscaping they’ll already know about you from your blog.

Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media websites get a lot of attention these days. Millions of people are using each one every day. A few businesses have been able to figure out how to engage these audiences and turn a bit of that attention into sales.

From my experience it’s difficult to drive customers from these channels. Some people are able to drive traffic to their websites, but that doesn’t always turn into sales and marketing is always about getting more sales for your business.

A key to social media may be to figure out where your customers are spending their time. Social media can be a great way to connect and engage. This kind of relationship can lead to sales and business relationships.

Summary

Referrals continues leading the way as a business driver for interiorscapers in 2011.

Providing quality work and service is the best way to build your reputation as the best interiorscaper in your area. Encourage your clients to refer you to their peers. Let your clients know about everything you offer. Don’t let them think you only provide the exact service you did for them. Working these relationships could be your best source of revenue in 2011.

Beyond referrals there is a plate full of new marketing tools. New age marketing on Facebook, Twitter, etc. still seem to have benefit for business to business companies so there is reason for your to spend some time there testing and trying to see if there is a social channel that works for you.

Blogging is something I recommend for all business to business companies. Blogging creates an online asset of knowledge, insight, and content. Search engines pick up on your content and share it with your potential clients. With a blog you can establish yourself as the knowledgable voice in the interiorscape industry.

Are there any other marketing initiatives you plan on focusing on this year?

What has worked for your that may work for others?

Share your thoughts.

Indoor Plant courtesy of ::Nicholas::

Every business owner and manager wants results.

Something that’s always on the mind of business owners is the morale of the employees. Managers want their employees to be happy and working efficiently. Happy and healthy employees are not only good for business, but when people are happy and healthy it’s better for their own lives in the long term. With many businesses, employees spend a good portion of their lives in an office or building. The setting can determine – to a point – how healthy they are.

And beyond employees, a business’ customers are important as well.

A business owner or manager realizes these things. What is often difficult to understand for these business decision makers is how they can improve their business environment.

As interiorscapers it’s easy to understand how indoor plants can benefit a building’s ecosystem, but it’s more important to get the point across and educate business owners. With education, business owners will know they’re doing something to not only improve their business, but to improve the lives of their employees.

Educating Businesses about the Benefits of Indoor Plants

Start with and stick to the benefits.

Business owners are concerned about how anything and everything can improve their business and lead to positive, measurable return. Backing up claims with studies, research, and first hand experience is something business managers will appreciate. If you go to them with numbers and backing research your potential clients will be more likely to hire you to design their interior landscaping.

Basic Research and Benefits

A good way to stay up to date with the latest information in the indoor plant world is to keep tabs on the news. Here is an example article that includes numbers that are perfect for sharing with existing and potential clients.

Plants clean the air, improve your mood

While considering houseplants for future space bases, NASA found they can help cut down on airborne bacteria and mould spores by 50 per cent to 60 per cent.

In addition, houseplants emit water vapour like a living humidifier, helping the indoor air feel more comfortable. A Virginia Tech study credits houseplants with reducing indoor dust by 20 per cent.

Business owners probably have an idea that indoor plants are good to have, but most are used to making fact based decisions. By using facts like these and providing sources (when asked) you’ll become a thought leader and generally stand out as the authority in the industry. A competitive advantage like this can mean more qualified leads and more long-term clients.

Beyond providing statistics like those above, you can inform your clients that there may be cost savings benefits to indoor plants. Many indoor plants work as air purifiers. This can save businesses from having to install expensive air purifiers. The last thing a business wants to be known for is for having poor air circulation or other air quality deficiencies. It’s not good for employees and it’s not good for customers and visitors.

For businesses looking for clean air they may often overlook the purifying benefits of plants. And beyond cleaning the air, plants add a more appealing quality to the eye than a mechanical purifier.

Summary

Education is an important part of the selling process.

Business owners, managers, and decision makers are looking for ways to improve their office and building space. Most may have some idea of what the possibilities are when it comes to improving their working space, but most also need education from experts on how and why things like indoor plants can be beneficial to morale, business efficiency, and employee health.

Starting with benefits and backing claims with research and specific numbers can mean more leads and clients for you.

Next week we’re planning a post on how you can use the latest marketing tools including a blog as a way to educate your current and potential clients in 2011.

Stay tuned…

Until then – what are some of the methods that have worked for you regarding educating clients about the benefits of indoor plants and arrangements?

Share your thoughts and feel free to ask questions.

Indoor Office Plant image courtesy of sporkist

Up in the air for all to see.

Hanging indoor plants is often overlooked in houses, in the office, and in the work area. With all the options available for decorating rooms and office areas it can be easy to overlook the benefits of getting a plant or two up at eye level and in the view of the building’s occupants.

Hanging plants are typically seen outside around the patio or next to a walk in door way entrance. Sometimes at an outdoor restaurant you’ll see some beautiful hanging plants near the window so the restaurant patrons can smell the wonderful scents of the flowers rather than the exhaust of the autos and buildings around them.

Taking those smells and sights inside can be just as beneficial for the people working and visiting. A hanging indoor plant in the greeting room or entrance could make for a memorable first impression as business owners greet their guests. A focal point inside the office doesn’t have to be the desk. A nice hanging plant behind the desk or in the waiting room area can be a welcome addition that not only looks interesting, but adds a great fresh scent at any time of the year.

Rob Proctor is a plant expert. I came across this video with Rob where he discusses the benefits of hanging plants indoors…

Hanging Plants Indoors

Hanging plants reach new heights

As you can see, Rob knows his stuff. A few of the key points he shares include:

• Keep plants and flowers at eye level
• Use adjustable chain
• Be careful with low light plants and the outdoors
• A good plant can scent an entire building
• Interesting features on plants make for conversation pieces

Indoor Hanging Plant Options

If you’re looking to hang some plants indoors for your next project there are some great plant options and some great planter options. Your creativity will probably make for some wonderful combinations.

In the video Rob mentions a few of the plants he has on display. The Jasmine seemed to be popular with everyone in the building. They were able to smell the wonderful aroma throughout the office. A good, but subtle smelling plant could make for a happier office or restaurant atmosphere and something like the Jasmine is a good choice.

Also mentioned is the goldfish plant – a good little conversation starter. Also the lipstick plant seemed to get the attention of the host in the video. She loved the little features on the plant that appeared to be lipstick containers – hence the name.

Now for hanging plants indoors there are some great options.

There is the wonderful and popular Metallic Hanging Planter from Newpro. The metallic finish makes for a great statement piece in any indoor setting. It’s been popular with customers in the past and we see many repeat purchases. The hanging Metallic Bowl is also very popular. There are many color options and the planter hanging chains are sold separately.

A heavy duty gauge molded hanging bowl is another option for offices, restaurants and hotels. They’re sturdy and can stand up to anything the visitors of the building or the employees can throw at it – on accident of course.

Summary

Don’t forget about what hanging plants have to offer. When inside, hanging plants can make for great focal points. In entrance ways and waiting rooms hanging plants can make for something interesting to look at and the right plant can make the entire area smell nice. It’s a great combination for a top notch first impression.

How have you used hanging plants indoors for your projects?

What were the reactions to your hanging plant designs?

Please share your experiences in the comments.